Three days later, Qian Wei was finally discharged from the hospital after weathering countless visits from various relatives and friends. Lu Xun gave her a month off of work, but after staying home for a day Qian Wei really couldn’t bear it anymore. Even though she had only been in a coma for a week she really felt that she was losing touch with the outside world.
So much had happened during that week. For instance, it had been revealed that a well-known ‘model couple’ in the entertainment industry were actually already married. Wang Lin, a famous singer, had committed suicide due to depression, and Li Mengyan, a small 18th tier actress, suddenly seemed to be on the road to becoming the next Movie Queen after a surprise breakout role in a recent movie…
Qian Wei was on her lunch break, sitting in the office and feeling surprised as she flipped through the entertainment gossip news. Though it had only been a week, it felt as if a few generations had gone by. Even some of the interns in the office were different now, and she had been seeing a lot of new faces. Of course, these interns were still constant in their worship and admiration for Lu Xun.
“Is Lawyer Lu really single?”
“Yes! I bribed the sister who works in the administration department and learned a few things. For instance, he really is single! After all, you can see for yourself how he’s always crazily working overtime, so how could he have the time to fall in love?”
“But he hasn’t been working overtime for the last week or so, right? Actually, I don’t remember seeing him in the office at all, maybe he really found someone?”
“Ah, you’re new here so you may not have heard. Actually, Lawyer Qian was injured and had to be hospitalized last week after she fell into a coma. That’s why Lawyer Lu pushed aside all of his work during the past days. I heard that he even contacted all the foremost brain experts in the country.” The young intern’s voice was filled with awe, “I’m really lucky to work for him, he’s probably the best boss in China. Actually, if falling into a coma is all it takes to get Lawyer Lu’s attention, I wouldn’t mind going to the hospital for a month or so. Maybe Lawyer Lu would develop feelings for me if we spent that much time together…”
“Just keep dreaming your beautiful dreams.”
The new interns were like little girls, chattering happily and fearlessly as they enjoyed their youth.
While Qian Wei listened in from the side, somehow her heart didn’t feel too good. In the past few days her life had settled back into its usual track, and Lu Xun had returned to the usual Lu Xun. The Lu Xun who always had an unsmiling frigid expression on his face, and who would never answer with two words when one would suffice. Also, as if to try to make up for the work that had accumulated while Qian Wei had been hospitalized, Lu Xun’s recent behavior could only be described as crazily in love with overtime, as if he were eager to live inside the law firm if he could.
Because of that, Qian Wei was feeling very torn. Lu Xun had changed back into his usual distant, icy, and noble persona, and he treated Qian Wei the way he always had, but she really couldn’t adjust back to her old way of getting along with him so easily. Whenever she looked at his cold yet excessively handsome face, her heart no longer stayed calm the way it had in the past. Whether what she had gone through in that coma had been a dream or a strange parallel world, all the things she had experienced with that 19-year-old version of Lu Xun was too fresh in her mind for her to just forget them. Even though she knew that the 19-year-old Lu Xun may well just be her one-sided delusion, some feelings, once awakened, were difficult to put back to sleep.
In the past, Qian Wei had never dared to think about being with Lu Xun. After all, Lu Xun was like the embodiment of perfection, someone so excellent that a person might really believe that he was a man who trod through the sky in a way normal people could never emulate. Thus, Qian Wei had always felt that, for this man in the sky, all she would ever be worthy of doing was following him from the ground while looking up to his shadow. She had never dreamed that anything could happen between him and her.
However, the experiences she had in her coma suddenly made her aware of her true feelings. Maybe, in the distant past, before she had even realized, she had ruthlessly smothered those feelings and paralyzed herself into inaction by calling everything she felt for Lu Xun ‘admiration’. And perhaps, in a time so long ago that she couldn’t even remember, she had already unconsciously begun to rely on having Lu Xun’s steady figure to look up to in her life…
The more she thought about it, the more uncomfortable she felt, so Qian Wei decided to take advantage of her lunch break and called Liu Shiyun. She coughed and said, “I think I’ve fallen in love.”
When Liu Shiyun heard that, her response was very energetic: “Qian Wei, ah, Qian Wei, I never thought I would see the day when this old iron tree would finally blossom! Tell me about him! Is he handsome? How old? His height, weight, measurements? Does he have any money? Are his parents alive? Will his mother object?”
“…” Qian Wei selectively ignored Liu Shiyun’s barrage of questions. She cleared her throat and said, “The problem now is that I don’t think he likes me. It’s just my own unrequited love. What do you think I should do?”
“Chase him!” Liu Shiyun spoke in a tone as if she wanted to roll up her sleeves and personally teach Qian Wei everything she needed to know.
“How do I chase him?” Qian Wei was a little shy, “I’ve never chased anyone before.”
“Find out what he likes and try to emulate that! First off, you need to appear to be the type that he likes. In fact, there is a child in every man’s heart and if you can satisfy that inner child, he soon won’t be able to do without you! ” Although Liu Shiyun, this ‘expert in love’, had never eaten pork, she had at least seen pigs run. So she was able to quickly make a clear analysis: “Again, the first thing you have to do is think about what type of person you are, and then what type of person he likes, and then adjust accordingly. Also, never easily express that you like him, at most, tease and flirt with him a bit to show you’re interested! If you ever confess that you like him, you will lose all sense of mystery in his eyes, which is no good. After all, men are all cheap, and they prefer to ‘hunt’ on their own initiative. If you’re the one taking the initiative, then the man will feel that it is too easy and he will never cherish you. Because of that, you have to seduce him slowly until the point that he will feel an uncomfortable itch in his heart whenever you aren’t around. Then, in the end, he will mistakenly think that he fell for you first and decide to pursue you on his own initiative, and that’s when you win!”
“That sounds very difficult…”
“As a matter of fact, there is another sure-fire way to get a man, do you want to know?”
Qian Wei felt very moved when she heard that and asked: “I do, what is it?”
“That is to put your superb bedroom skills to use! But I’m afraid that you don’t have the skill for this method hahahahaha!”
Qian Wei suddenly felt that if having a dirty mind was a crime, then Liu Shiyun would definitely be serving a life sentence.
However, at the end of the day, Liu Shiyun’s advice did give Qian Wei some inspiration. Since she had learned that Lu Xun really used to live in the AnLan Mountain Villa, maybe all of Lu Xun’s hobbies and habits that she had learned in her coma were also real?
“So, in short, Lu Xun likes women who have a good body, gorgeous looks, and beautiful eyes?” She tried to recall what he had told her of his preferences in the ‘19-year-old world’.
Just as Qian Wei’s thoughts were flying wildly, the several interns who were still gossiping suddenly scattered to the four corners of the wind. When Qian Wei looked up, she found that Lu Xun had returned from his meeting with a client. He was cold and aloof as ever as he stalked through the office.
Qian Wei thought about it for another second before deciding to put her plan into action. She took the hairtie out of her ponytail and let her hair scatter glamorously over her shoulders, then she took out her lipstick and put it on before finally checking out the result in her mirror. Although she didn’t look too flirtatious or anything, her aura was more like a ‘leisurely and casual beauty’ now, as opposed to her usual boring professional look. Perhaps because she had been hospitalized for a week, Qian Wei’s skin had become more white and delicate than before and, combined with her red lips and shining eyes, she felt she had accomplished her first task.
She reached down and grabbed a random document from her desk so nobody would suspect anything when she went to Lu Xun’s office. However, just before she stood up, she thought about it again, gritted her teeth, and then unbuttoned the top button of her shirt. After that, she took a deep breath, walked over, and knocked on the door of Lu Xun’s office.
“Come in.”
Qian Wei pushed the door open, but Lu Xun was busy staring intently at a document in his hands so he didn’t look up.
It wasn’t until Qian Wei coughed awkwardly that he looked up and saw that it was her. He seemed surprised, but he set aside the work in front of him and asked: “What’s the matter?”
Qian Wei immediately became flustered. She had been so preoccupied with the idea of seeing Lu Xun that she had forgotten to think of any excuse to do so! Fortunately, she had grabbed a document just now, so she hurriedly looked down at it and saw that it was that pro bono case Lu Xun had kept mentioning to her before her accident.
Qian Wei could only try to bluster her way through: “Well, regarding this pro bono case, I ended up delaying working on it because of my hospitalization, and now I have a lot of other cases in front of me. I’m afraid that I won’t be able to handle this case on top of my current workload since time is so tight…”
Lu Xun stared at Qian Wei: “Have you looked at the case?”
Qian Wei could only nod randomly and lie: “Yes, I took a look.” After a second of thought, she decided to leave herself a way out and added: “But I haven’t studied it carefully…”
Lu Xun lowered his eyes and fell silent for a long time before reply, “Alright, I know. I’ll take over this case. Since you have no time because of your other cases, you can just leave it to me. Make sure to get some rest.”
For some reason, although Lu Xun was still his usual expressionless and indifferent self, Qian Wei somehow felt that he had looked briefly stunned, and perhaps depressed for an instant after saying those words. However, when she took another look and saw that he was calm as usual, she decided that the moment just now was definitely just an illusion caused by a trick of the light.
Whatever, she couldn’t care about these unimportant details! She needed to get down to business!
Qian Wei fidgeted with her hair, secretly hoping that Lu Xun would notice something special about how she was dressed right now. She covered the corner of her mouth with her hand as if she needed to cough and pretended to cough a few times while, at the same time, quietly straightening her body and pushing her chest out so that her neckline would be in Lu Xun’s line of sight.
However, unfortunately…
“Why are you coughing all of a sudden?”
“…” That wasn’t the main point, okay? Lu Xun! What about her lips! Her hair! Her chest!?
Although she was roaring in her heart, Qian Wei could only force a smile and say weakly, “Maybe I have a cold.”
Alright, it seemed that Lu Xun, who was obsessed with his work, completely didn’t notice how her makeup and clothes were different today, or seem to care about her body at all. Qian Wei could only console herself with the thought that, even though Lu Xun himself was so handsome, he was unexpectedly still single even at the age of 28. Since it was like that, she shouldn’t be too demanding in her expectations for him. At the very least, she could just take it as a good sign if he could show a bit of concern for her health.
Unfortunately…
“Then get out.”
Qian Wei: ???
“You want me to get out?” She said in a puzzled tone.
Lu Xun frowned: “If not, then what? You want to stay here and give me your cold?”
“…”
**** you, Lu Xun! Just stay single for the rest of your life! Qian Wei was so angry that she almost felt like she was going to explode. So, without saying a word, she stood up, turned on her heel, and got ready to march out of the office.
“Wait a minute.”
“Hmm?”
“Button up your shirt before you go out.”
“Huh?”
Lu Xun didn’t look at Qian Wei, keeping his eyes fixed on the files in his hands, and said in a slightly unnatural tone: “Your neckline is too open.”
Huh?
Lu Xun finally set down the file in his hands and looked up at Qian Wei. He said in an unpleasant tone. “You need to pay more attention to your image. You’re a lawyer, and this is a professional job, so why isn’t your shirt buttoned properly? Do I need to get you a copy of the dress code?”
Qian Wei was still feeling upset, so she argued back, “I was feeling a little hot. It seems like maybe the air conditioner isn’t working today.”
“Button up your shirt, lawyers are all about modesty and professionalism.” Lu Xun pursed his lips and then picked up the phone on his desk and dialed an internal number. “Ask Xiao Yan from the Administration Department to talk to the building management and get them to lower the temperature on our floor.”
“…”
Thus, for the rest of the afternoon, Qian Wei was scolding Lu Xun in her heart while her colleagues on the same floor were huddled in their seat shivering. That Lu Xun really hardened his heart to make sure she buttoned all of her buttons this time, ah, but did he have to make the air conditioner so cold?! Was this a temperature for humans?
As she reflected on everything she experienced in that ‘19-year-old world’, Qian Wei just felt depressed. It was as if she had gone through endless trials and hardships, but in the end, what she got was unexpectedly all fake.
tl note: The ‘never eaten pork, but has seen pigs run’ idiom just means that a person has never personally done ‘x’ but they’ve seen it and have opinions on it.
Also that last paragraph where Qian Wei talks about getting a fake… in the raws it has a more religious connotation (she specifically refers to some religious trial and then getting a ‘fake sutra’) but I THINK she’s talking about the ‘information’ she got from the ‘other world’ being fake. Which, I mean, it more or less is since Lu Xun was very often not honest, right?
Also also… it seems that we’ve really left the 19 y/o Lu Xun behind for good. I’m honestly not too thrilled about this twist, though I’m also not surprised since it was spoiled for me in a random NU review back when I was translating like chapter 10 or something. Like you know how in a movie sometimes a big dramatic thing will happen and then the main character will bolt awake in their bed and be like ‘Gasp, it was all a dream!’ and it’s lame? It’s pretty much exactly that feeling, except instead of one dramatic scene it’s like 80% of the book!
🤣 did he drop the temperature to 17°C or what?
So that pro bono case has all the details she needs to know about his feelings, hmm?
She did so much at 19, the website, helping her brother not be hung up on that girl and he began dating the roommate, the guy she saves from stomach cancer, the chubby girl they help, the people they save from the scum lawyer etc…..why did the author throw all that away?! I hate it, I don’t want to finish but being so close I probably will.
Oh my god, how is she still mentally kinda okay? I would honestly break down. All throughout her coma she experienced another life, she got a boyfriend, started a business and many more happy memories. Now all of that is gone, must be devastating.